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You're apparently not very good at reading and understanding my posts. I said that teachers should NOT teach it as fact that jesus was divine. Obviously, this is the centralized theme of the Christian faith, but it's faith, not fact. They can certainly teach that Christians believe he's divine.
I am against any incentive on the part of a history teacher to give validity to this belief, however. They shouldn't express any opinion about the truth of Jesus' divinity. We wouldn't have history teachers trying to claim that Paul Bunyan existed, either. But we could teach about the cultural and historical events that spawned his story.
As for his existence, there is no absolute proof he existed. He has no writings, and everything that was written about him was not contemporaneous with his life -- not even by several decades. Good historians weigh evidence and teach the evidence. They don't merely puke up the story as truth.
I object to your opinion that I should be disqualified. I'm clearly more qualified than you as you're already making the unqualified leap that he unequivocally did exist.
And you are missing my point entirely. I would teach neither that He did or did not exist. I would merely explain the Christian point of view, which is that He not only existed but was divine. How else would it be possible to teach any of the Christian theology which is based upon His existance. Yes, I believe that He existed and was divine, but if I were to teach such a class, I can assure you that my students wouldn't have a clue as to what I personally believe. If you can say that, too, then you might indeed be qualified to teach such a class.
And you are missing my point entirely. I would teach neither that He did or did not exist. I would merely explain the Christian point of view, which is that He not only existed but was divine. How else would it be possible to teach any of the Christian theology which is based upon His existance. Yes, I believe that He existed and was divine, but if I were to teach such a class, I can assure you that my students wouldn't have a clue as to what I personally believe. If you can say that, too, then you might indeed be qualified to teach such a class.
Which is all I freaking said to begin with. Dude, you did not read my original post. Just admit it.
And if you believe in a fancy magic Jew whose dad made the earth, you really shouldn't be qualified for any aspect of academia. Just saying.
It might be an interesting subject, but it should only be taught as part of a world religions course geared towards high school juniors and seniors. Other religions should be discussed, too. The problem would be to present the material objectively. Kudos to any teacher who could do that.
This was taught as part of two required semesters of Western Civilization for me at a public university. I found it extremely interesting and enlightening. I think many people who have a very narrow view of Christianity (meaning, my particular denomination is 100% right and the rest of the world is hell-bound) lack the historical understanding of how Christianity came about.
In terms of education, yes. We disproportionately neglect the history of the rest of the world, and its influence on the rest of the world.
We also heavily record history from a European point of view, ignoring, for instance, the Japanese point of view before WWII, the Filipino struggle during the Spanish-American War, etc.
What do you mean we should "limit to things that weren't brought here by the Europeans"? I'm not saying we destroy Euro-centric education entirely.
You can't have it all. Euro-centric curriculum was picked for its relevance with American history. Now, teaching "history" of Christianity as it relates to America may not be too far off, after all the pilgrims had left Europe due to persecution by the Church of England. Then we could go on with witch hunting tales, and use/abuse of the religion through out the history in the society and politics. But, somehow I feel there will be a lot of opposition to those realities.
You can't have it all. Euro-centric curriculum was picked for its relevance with American history. Now, teaching "history" of Christianity as it relates to America may not be too far off, after all the pilgrims had left Europe due to persecution by the Church of England. Then we could go on with witch hunting tales, and use/abuse of the religion through out the history in the society and politics. But, somehow I feel there will be a lot of opposition to those realities.
Who said we want it all? A Euro-centric history doesn't just mean we discuss European conquest too much, it also means we ignore the other side of events contained within the European story, e.g. American Indians, Mexicans, African slaves, etc.
I agree, there will be opposition to a deep discussion of the witch trials, religious intolerance from Xtians, etc. Altho in high school we read The Crucible.
I don't know how it is in other states but Christianity is still taught in U.S. and European History here in Texas. That's basically all we were talking about this year in class. And that's the way it should be in all schools because Christianity shaped the U.S., Europe, & Australia as well. To shun it is to be literally erasing history. Like I said before, I don't know how it is in California but I do know that their suppose to be teaching gay history soon and I have to pause because I don't remember any significant contributions to society gays have done. I also wonder whether Christianity is even taught in their textbooks. Because it would be extremely hypocritical to be teaching gay history but not even have Christianity in the curriculum.
I know what the heck is a non-Christian doing in the Christian forums. I am not over here to debate nor to defend nor to condemn. I respect your right to believe as you find to be true.
This thread is the result of a comment Member "Ball Peen" made in a recent post in which he stated his belief that Historical Christianity should be taught in Public schools. As strange as it sounds I believe it should be. but taught fairly and only with verifiable facts. In my own studies of Christianity I believe that what should be covered in such a study is what I write below. That is by no means complete, but I feel if Christianity is covered as a historical subject in public schools those should be among the topics covered.
Christianity was not always what it is today. The earliest Christians did not have the NT as this was not fully compiled until about the 4th Century. Prior to that the early churches at best only had the writing of a few of the Apostles or were orally taught by the apostles.
Jesus(as) never read the NT, it did not exist during the time he walked the earth. There are no irrefutable documents telling us what Jesus(as) preached. If he wrote anything, none of it was preserved nor has anything been found that was written about Him during the time he walked the earth. Everything about him seems to have been written after the fact.
The earliest known Christian Churches were
Ebionites
Nazarenes,
Nazoraeans,.
With those first 3 being the earliest known forms of Christian worship. These were very soon followed by
Cerinthians,
Carpocratians
Of those first 5 only the Nazarenes still exist to any extent. But even with them it can not be proven if it is still in it's original form. One point of interest is they preached in Aramaic and some of their earliest treachings seem to exist. their Aramaic version of the Lord's prayer seems to be intact, but it has little resemblance to what the Lord's prayer is today.
The next two Christian churches were
Pauline Christianity: These were the teachings of Paul. the early Christians did persecute the Paulines and did not believe them to be true.
proto-Catholic-Orthodox: this began very early and carried what seems to be Roman and Greek influence as to what Christianity should be.
By the second Century the proto-Catholic-Orthodox church absorbed the teachings of Paul and became the Catholic-Orthodox Church. Because it had the power of Rome and Greece behind them the earlier churches were soon pushed aside.
The Catholic-Orthodox Church became Christianity and by the 4th Century the New Testament was compiled and considered to be the true teachings of Jesus. This was to become the largest form of Christianity to have been However the First split came as early as 461 with The Chalcedonian Schism. This was a division over the nature of Jesus(as) as to if he was divine of human. the only last split was in Alexandria and divided Christianity into Melkite and Coptic.
The next split was the Great Schism of 1054 which separated the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.
The third Major split was the Protestant Reformation of 1521. Which brought about the Anglican church, the KJV and the major protestant denominations.
Today there seems to be a Fourth major split that began in the USA in the 1800s this is the "Bible" only faith based churches that have no church doctrine or dogma. This seems to be the fastest growing area of Christianity.
I also think that in a historically teachings of Christianity, there should be a study of the early gnostic gospels. Especially the gospels of Peter, Thomas and Barnabas. If for no other reason that to show why Christians do not accept them to be true. Especially since the revelations of John were considered to have been gnostic or not inspired until after the Protestant Reformation.
The answer is : absolutely ...since it was the Founding Fathers of this Nation who wanted the Judeo-CHristian faith, morals, and ethics to infuse America. 34% of everything the Founding Fathers wrote, was about The Christian Faith/Jesus/Gods soveriegnty, etc... It should be taught and it should also be taught the consequences our Country has faced since the inception of Post Modernism... which includes the rejection of God as well as his loving and protective moral mandates for our benefit (which werent desired by all) . Atheism should be taught as history too including the last centuries famous Atheist Dictators which brought about the combined slaughter of over 100,000,000 people directly according to Atheist dogmas . Teach it all .. and even the un-christian things done (only) in THE NAME OF God which were obviously not OF God such as the Inquisitions, Abortion Mill bombings, the religious Perpetrator of the latest Norway slaughter , et al. Just be sure and teach what real Christianity is all about as the person of Jesus Christ depicts since thats who real dedicated Christians follow and try to emulate in completeness --- show the inaccurate stigma versus the real thing (if a secular-humanist Public School would dare) .
The answer is : absolutely ...since it was the Founding Fathers of this Nation who wanted the Judeo-CHristian faith, morals, and ethics to infuse America.
Patently untrue. And the words of most of the founders are the rebuttal to this nonsense.
Quote:
. It should be taught and it should also be taught the consequences our Country has faced since the inception of Post Modernism... which includes the rejection of God as well as his loving and protective moral mandates for our benefit (which werent desired by all) . Atheism should be taught as history too including the last centuries famous Atheist Dictators which brought about the combined slaughter of over 100,000,000 people directly according to Atheist dogmas . Teach it all .. and even the un-christian things done (only) in THE NAME OF God which were obviously not OF God such as the Inquisitions, Abortion Mill bombings, the religious Perpetrator of the latest Norway slaughter , et al. Just be sure and teach what real Christianity is all about as the person of Jesus Christ depicts since thats who real dedicated Christians follow and try to emulate in completeness --- show the inaccurate stigma versus the real thing (if a secular-humanist Public School would dare) .
I get it. So all horrible things done by Christians were not inspired by Christianity.
But all horrible things done by atheists were directly attributable to atheism.
Take your meds, moron.
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